Chapter 708: Anxiousness

  Chapter 692 – Anxious Eyes

Rejection was inevitable, no matter how tempting the conditions offered by the Berlin government were, they were essentially empty gloves.

Moreover, the Russo-Prussian War is not as simple as it appears, but is also filled with British, French and Austrian games.

Initially, it was Britain and France that supported the Prussian-Polish Confederation and Austria supported the Russian Empire, and by now the position of Britain and Austria had not changed, while the French were passive.

It’s all a matter of interests, and if you can strike a blow against your rivals, why not do it?

The French invested few resources in this war, and even if the Pupo Confederation was defeated, their losses were limited.

Economically these losses could be made up for in other ways.

For example: the British businesses were affected by debt and were struggling to operate, or even went bankrupt.

Not to mention the gains from the damage to competitors. Just watching the British go down, the French have reason to be happy.

As the French empire grows stronger, the era of the pro-British faction is over. The ever-increasing conflict of interest drove the two countries further and further apart.

From France’s standpoint, it was also more in their interest in the long run for the Russians to win the war.

The spheres of influence of the two countries were so far apart that the likelihood of a conflict of interest was almost nil. A strong Russian Empire would also be able to hold Austria at bay from behind.

No matter how good the Russian-Austrian relationship was, as soon as the Russian Empire became powerful, the two countries would go their separate ways, and national interests cannot be reversed by individual will.

Doing nothing to combat two rivals at the same time, the French government naturally knew what to choose.

The British are calculating, the French are calculating, and Austria is naturally no exception.

A strong Russian Empire was indeed a threat, but it was a potential threat for the future, not to be considered for at least twenty or thirty years.

In the short term, Austria’s biggest competitors were still Britain and France. With the defeat of the Puppo Confederation, a debt default became inevitable, and the British economy would surely suffer greatly as a result.

The French economy isn’t much better, on the surface they didn’t put much into it and the losses are manageable, unfortunately it’s the French economy itself that has problems.

The market was booming during the war and the high cost of industrial raw materials was not a problem, when the Russo-Prussian war was over and there were no more of these international orders, the problem should have exploded.

It just so happens that this period is also the peak of industrial overcapacity in the world and the most competitive market, where cost will be one of the central factors in market competition.

With costs remaining high, what can the French industrial and commercial sector do to grab the market with Britain and Austria?

Capital is profit-seeking, interest will drive them from the unprofitable manufacturing industry to the financial industry, and thus change the economic structure of France.

This is not the first time that Austria has laid out a plan. After almost every economic crisis, the proportion of the French manufacturing sector in the economy will decline.

Fortunately, these days, no one realizes the importance of the manufacturing industry, otherwise the Paris government would have been anxious.

Of course, now is also close to the eye of the emergency. In the era when the tertiary industry has not developed, it is still the manufacturing industry that can create jobs.

Shrinking industrial capacity will inevitably lead to a decline in employment, these people can not be rushed to planting, right?

France’s mainland land has long been owned, overseas colonies are quite a lot, the problem is that the French people are willing to go?

Unfortunately, by the influence of the maritime culture, the French people prefer to stay in the city, rather than running to the colonies to open up the land.

This has long been proven, both in the original time and space, as well as now, France’s motivation to emigrate is not high.

When the economy was bad, people took it upon themselves to control births, and the Condom invention made a major contribution to French birth control.

Having fewer children naturally reduces the pressure, anyway, these days the life expectancy of the lower classes is short, and they don’t need to think about old age, so it doesn’t matter whether there is a next generation or not.

The decline in the birth rate is a long-term problem, and the damage will not be realized in a short period of time. The social crisis brought about by the economy, however, cannot be avoided.

The Franco-Italian merger is less than ten years old, and in the time of good economic development, a lot of conflicts have been covered up. Once the economic crisis breaks out, it is about to erupt.

In a sense, this is also France’s weakest moment. It had only been a few short years, the Italian population had not yet returned to the center, and the rule of Napoleon IV was not stable at all.

If they really let them to grind a few decades, to find out a set of suitable for their own method of rule, the great France is the true meaning of the “Mediterranean Empire”, the threat is going to be much bigger.

……

With the battlefield at a disadvantage, the Austrians unconvinced diplomatically, and the French unwilling to increase their investment, the pressure on the Berlin government increased dramatically.

On October 12, 1880, the Berlin government launched an expanded mobilization plan, all men between the ages of sixteen and fifty years old and in good health were required to participate in militia training and be ready to be called up at any time.

It was obvious that the Berlin government was really anxious and did not trust Mauch that much. Although there was no extreme mobilization, it had already begun to make the relevant preparations.

“Extreme mobilization” is a test of a country’s organizational ability, not everyone is willing to go to war, it requires a lot of work.

Either it was a primitive feudal era, where the area ruled was limited, or all the serfs took up arms and went to war at the command of the lord.

Either there was severe humiliation and burgeoning nationalism, and everyone was willing to fight for the country; or survival was in trouble and one had to use the weapons in one’s hands to gain survival for oneself.

The Pupo Federation couldn’t rely on any of these, so it had to rely on the government’s ability to organize. After all, war was not just a matter of gathering people together, but also military training, and at the same time, logistical supplies had to be guaranteed.

Vienna Palace

Putting down the information in his hands, Franz asked, “How many troops can the Pupo Federation mobilize at most if they go for extreme mobilization?”

After a few moments of contemplation, Chief of Staff Albrecht slowly replied, “According to the analysis of the information we have collected, the Pupo Federation is able to mobilize a maximum of six million people.”

“Six million people” was not six million troops, people and troops were two different concepts, not everyone could be a qualified soldier.

The “six million” simply excluded the physically disabled and the sick, proving that there were six million men of the right age in the Pupo Federation.

It would be impossible to train all of these men into an army. The reason is very simple: there are still many positions in society that need people, and they are still indispensable.

Government offices, hospitals, schools, military industrial enterprises, scientific research institutions ……

In addition to these positions, there are a large number of special classes. Not aristocrats, European aristocrats will go to the battlefield, aristocratic honor can not allow them to retreat at this time.

Those who are not willing to serve in the military are mainly capitalists, middle class, small businessmen, experts and scholars …… These people have money and social status, and are not willing to go to the battlefield to sell their lives.

If the Berlin government included them in the scope of military service, it is estimated that the country can turn upside down.

After deducting all of these, only the Berlin government can really mobilize. After mobilization, there was still a screening process to kick out those who were not suitable for military service.

The exact number of people left depends on the Berlin government’s screening criteria. Maybe three million, maybe four million, before the limit of mobilization, no one knows how many troops can be mobilized by the Pupo Federation.

However, whether it was three million, or four million, this number was going to shock the world.

The areas where the Pupo and Russia were at war were also limited, and when the amount of troops invested reached a certain level, it would reach the limit of what the battlefield could bear, and it was impossible to increase it indefinitely.

After reaching the limit of battlefield capacity, the Russian army could no longer maintain the superiority of troops on the battlefield, and Ivanov’s conservative tactics would hardly work.

Theoretically, as long as the Prussian army had three million troops, not as long as it was able to commit two million to the front, Mauch could defeat the Russians.

Franz asked suspiciously, “What, you don’t see the limit of mobilization of the PUP Federation?”

Chief of Staff Albrecht nodded and explained, “Armies of the same country have different fighting strengths. Once the Pupo Federation has gone through extreme mobilization, the fighting strength of the Pupo army will drop drastically…

Not having enough officers, lack of training for the soldiers, and a decline in the quality of the source of soldiers, with so many factors adding up, I’m afraid that the combat power of the PBF will be pulled down to the same level as the Russian army.

What the elite troops could do, the ordinary army could not accomplish.

The fighting strength of the troops had dropped drastically, and the commanders also needed time to adapt, and time was what was most lacking on the battlefield.

The Tsarist government was able to cash in with the Pupo Federation now, and the same could be done in the future. It doesn’t even need to win the war, as long as it can inflict heavy casualties on the Prussian army, defeating the war can also win the war.

Unless Mauch is able to play an amazing exchange ratio out, they will sooner or later be piled up by the Russians’ man-to-man tactics.

On this issue, Mauch and I are in agreement; the strength of the Prussian army lies in its machine power, and blind expansion is tantamount to giving up this advantage.”

This is also a warning to Austria, if you want to play mano-a-mano, learn from the Russians who emphasize quantity over quality, and if you want to do both you’d better wash your hands of it!

Perhaps two or three million officers of the army, Austria can reserve in advance, this number once the rise to five million, six million, or even tens of millions over, reserve in advance to dream!

Training all serving soldiers to become officers? Think very beautiful, in fact, there is a gap between people, not everyone can become a qualified officer.

A good soldier, does not equal to become a good officer, many people are only suitable for soldiers.

Even if you spend resources to train them, at most they will be capped at platoon level. It would not take more than a few years for them to return home and be knocked back to their original form.

This kind of distress did not bother Franz for long, think of the competitors he was relieved. Advantages and disadvantages are compared, do not need to do the best, as long as it is better than the competitors on the line.

Franz and not ready to do Napoleon second, Austria does not need to fight the entire continent of Europe, encounter a separate enemy, simply do not use so many troops.

After a little thought, Franz made a decision: “Pupo Federation has not reached its limit, there is still a war to be fought, the original plan to sell weapons technology is temporarily shelved.”

Despite the fact that the new weapons could make the war even more tragic, Franz didn’t dare to risk putting them out, what Austria wanted was for Prussia and Russia to lose both of them, not for the Pupo Federation to roll over.

The same weaponry, placed in the hands of different people, could bring out very different combat power.

Just look at Ivanov’s use of military force, that is the proper conservative. What kind of leader, there is what kind of subordinates, the use of new weapons of the Russian army is certainly not compared to the Prussian army.

Whether it is the “machine gun”, or “mortar”, these seemingly small force weapons, can burst out of the lethal force is very amazing. If Mouche found the opportunity, it may be able to turn a big battle.

The Russians have a strong family background, the front is not terrible to lose once, the terrible thing is to lose the war led to the Tsar’s government to change the generals.

Don’t see that Marshal Ivanov didn’t have many bright spots, but he was still the most suitable commander-in-chief for commanding the Russian army, and if he had been replaced, who knows what the hell would have been fought out.

It’s not that Franz underestimated the Russians, the quality of their officers as a whole was going to be slightly lower, specifically in terms of education.

High-level officers are still good, most of them have received a perfect education, many of the middle and lower officers have only received a family military education, the proportion of officers who have received military school training is very low.

Otherwise, a foreign student at an Austrian military academy like Arden would not have been able to work his way up to become a general in just a few years. (As mentioned earlier, Commander of the Koveri garrison)

It’s not that an outside monk is good, the point is that in comparison to others, his abilities are really excellent, at least in terms of theoretical knowledge.

This disadvantage is not yet apparent when conservative tactics are employed, which are dull battles anyway and require limited room for officers to utilize their individual abilities.

If there was a new commander, a change in the mode of operation, requiring the officers at the front to give free rein to their individual command abilities, the Russians would have to suffer.

There may be talented commanders who will emerge, but more often than not they will be fools.

In a war of millions of men, the power of the individual is small, and it is often not the individual genius that decides the outcome of the war, but rather the countless fools.

If there is no stupidity, where is the genius? Miracles in military history are often created by these two types of people together.

……

Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “Your Majesty, when I met with the British Minister yesterday, he brought news.

As long as we stop supporting the Russians, the British government will recognize our post-war annexation of the Russian Balkans, including Constantinople.”

Franz rolled his eyes straight away, what was this? Austria’s annexation of the Russian Balkans, does it still need to be recognized by the British?

Not Franz pride, from the opening of the Suez Canal, the British influence in the Mediterranean Sea has gradually declined, the Balkan Peninsula is even less their turn to intervene.

Austria really want to annex these areas, the only real obstacle is the Russians, the British “recognition or not” can not affect the final result.

The French, at least, had the ability to intervene. As for the British, when the main force of the Royal Navy dares to go deep into the Adriatic Sea, then say.

However, this can also prove that the London government is in a hurry. The French, on whom they had high hopes, now chose to look on with cold eyes, and the chips in the hands of the British were not enough.

Franz: “No Ukrainian regions?”

“No!” Weissenberg replied

Franz shook his head, “It seems that the London government’s consciousness is still stuck in the same place as it was thirty years ago, wanting to dictate everything.

Tell the British that Russian-Austrian relations go back a long, long way, and we have no interest in Constantinople, and tell them not to stir up trouble.”

Interest or no interest, Austria had to have no interest now. Constantinople was not something to be taken, and taking it would mean going down to the death with the Russians and sharing the hatred for the Popish Confederation.

Austria has occupied the Dardanelles, Constantinople can only be the icing on the cake. What else is there in the Russian Balkans besides Constantinople?

Bulgaria?

It’s 1880, not 1850, and Bulgarian nationalism is burgeoning.

The cultural customs of the Bulgarian region were very close to those of Russia, and the language was even more interchangeable; the Tsarist government hadn’t even digested it, and Franz didn’t think Austria would be able to assimilate the natives that easily.

To put it bluntly, Bulgaria in addition to rose oil, other resources Austria does not lack. Input and output is not proportional, naturally difficult to raise interest.

(End of chapter)